Big Boost for Canada after Badminton Disqualifications

It’s always better to advance on merit instead of being given an opportunity because of the malfeasance of others. In this case, Canada isn’t complaining. Four top women’s doubles badminton teams — two from South Korea, and one each from China and Indonesia — were ejected from the London Olympics on Tuesday night after they were found to be intentionally throwing matches.

That black eye on the sport became an open window for the Canadian pair of Alexandra Bruce and Michele Li. They took advantage of their second chance by defeating Leanne Choo and Renuga Veeran of Australia two games to one on Wednesday at Wembley Arena.

The victory means Bruce and Li will go to the semi-finals, and will play for a medal — either gold or bronze, depending on how they do against Japan. It represents quite a turnaround for Bruce and Li after they went winless and were not expected to continue after initially finishing near the bottom of Group A.

“It was really just unfortunate for the sport what happened,” Bruce said in an interview published in the Globe and Mail. “It’s upsetting that it happened at the Olympics. Hopefully we can rebound as a sport and prove to the world that badminton deserves to be respected and to be in the Olympics.”

The controversy surrounded the perceived effort of the expelled teams. Video of the event clearly shows teams hitting serves either directly into the net or intentionally wide of the playing area, even after they were admonished by an official to stop doing it.

The intent behind the shenanigans apparently was so the teams would have easier paths to the final by avoiding the prospect of having to face each other in the semis. The plan was allegedly hatched after Denmark’s Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pederson upset the second-ranked Chinese pair of Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei on Tuesday.

The Badminton World Federation took immediate action and disqualified the eight players. The organization said in a statement that it had charged the doubles players from China, South Korea and Indonesia under its players’ code of conduct with “not using one’s best efforts to win a match” and “conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport.”

South Korea appealed the decision but was dismissed, while Indonesia withdrew its challenge. China did not file a response to the allegations and appeared, by default, to accept the decision of the federation, which said it would launch an investigation into the incident.